Hello! I am back, yay! Hey, if anyone wants to drop a line, you can e-
mail me at Carol_Maxwell@gundamwing.zzn.com or Rappergirl06@aol.com, either
one works! ^^ Before I begin, I don't own Tenchi Muyo except for the
alternate characters, remember that. ^^ Anywho, on with this part
No Need For Hiding
Ashley sat on the steps of the shrine, she was deep in thought, her eyes had that spaced out look again. It was a beautiful day to be outside anyway, the sun was shining, it was about seventy degrees, and the birds were chirping, instead of being annoying like it usually was, Ashley thought it was kind of melodious today. She sat back and looked up at the cystal blue sky and watched clouds drift lazily by, a gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the trees around the shrine.
She took a deep breath and sighed, she had been there for two weeks, things weren't getting any better, the flash backs were becoming worse, it was getting to the point where Tenchi would be sitting in there with her at night, as if he was watching over her. As if he actually cared.
The blond quickly shook those thoughts from her head, 'Why would he care about someone as mean and nasty as me? Why would he bother wasting his time? Why? That will always be the question.' She questioned herself.
"Hey! Whatcha doing way out here by yourself?" A perky female voice, Ashley would recognize that voice anywhere, she looked up at the blue eyed and blond haired girl.
"Just thinking." The green eyed blonde replied, not facing Mihoshi.
Mihoshi sat down next to Ashley, there was a worried look on the blue eyed one's face. "You're worrying everyone." She told Ashley softly.
Ashley shrugged, "Oh well, s'not(1) like anyone cares 'bout me anyway."
"But your wrong there! Everyone cares!" Mihoshi added by jokingly jabbed Ashley in the arm, "I think Tenchi has a crush on you too."
The tough blond purposely swayed from the punch, she then snorted, "He's got other girls that are dying to get with him, why doesn't he like them at all? Why would he come after me instead? I'm just a hard person, I don't mess with that goopy love crap that everyone else around here seems to be fond of."
The perky blond was a bit hurt by the cold voice those words were spoken in, "Why are you like that?"
"What?"
"Why don't you let anyone love you, but then you complain about no one liking you?"
Ashley stared at the bouncy blond, she had no clue as to what to say to her, "I.......I.......I don't know." She was very stunned at the moment, she never really thought about that fact, she had spent so much time pushing people away from her, she never really took the chance to be friends with other people, other then Kyle and Jared.
"You going to be okay?" Mihoshi asked.
The tough blond nodded slowly, not facing Mihoshi still, she was still shocked.
Mihoshi stood and began to walk away, before she did, she faced Ashley once again, "If you ever need anyone to talk to, your always welcome to talk to me, friend." Then she continued away.
Nonaka stared at Mihoshi, 'Friend? What have I done to become her friend?' She rested her head back in her hands, she was still shocked by Mihoshi's words that have etched in her mind, 'Why don't you let anyone love you, but then you complain about no one liking you?'
She tried shaking the thoughts from her head, it was no good.
~*~
Jared sat on the couch, laptop on his lap, his fingers quickly flew over the keys as he continued to type. Someone sat on the couch next to him, but he ignored whoever it was and continued deep into his programming.
"Mr. Azerar, you work too much for a young man." A soft, diplomatic voice spoke.
The blond boy looked up from his mini computer and looked at Ayeka, he shrugged, "If I don't, then, we'll definately lose our fights."
"But, I have seen you and your friends fight, you seem to be getting better all the time, your team is the highest ranking." Ayeka told him.
He nodded, "Yes, but, I want to stay there, Nonaka isn't any good at this stuff, Kyle just doesn't want to do that."
"Have you ever let Miss Nonaka work?" Ayeka asked him.
"No." He shook his head, "We may be in first, but, in a fight, there is very little room for error, Nonaka's Armored Core, Beta, can't take a beating like that."
"I see." Ayeka said, "You don't like her very much do you?"
Jared nodded, then shook his head, "We're friends, just when it comes to Armored Cores, we don't exactly agree. We were in a fight one time, it was a good one either."
"May I hear about it?" Ayeka questioned.
"Sure, it was about two years ago, we had just started out, and it was our first battle as a team............"
~*~Flashback~*~
All three Armored Cores were badly damaged, Beta was barely able to move, while the other team had very little to no damage. A sudden explosion erupted from Beta, Ashley could've been killed in it, but no time to look back. It wasn't long before Iota and Alpha were taken out. Jared and Kyle started scrounging through the very burnt Beta, when they found her, she was near dead, a large scratch across her side was deep and bleeding badly, it formed a scar.
~*~End of Flashback~*~
"She had figured that it was all my fault, so, since then, we haven't gotten along." Jared finished.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Ayeka apologized.
"It's okay, things are starting to get better, she's not fighting me alot like she used to." Jared told her.
"Well, that's nice to hear." Ayeka smiled.
Jared smiled back, he carefully examined her face, it was soft and gentle looking, like that of a lamb, her Jurain (Spelling?) robes did a good job of covering up her body. Jared reached over to her and gently traced his fingers over her cheek, stroking it. Ayeka was very shocked by his sudden touch, but quickly became used to it. The two began leaning toward each other for a kiss, when a sudden shouting instantly got them apart, Jared returned to typing, and Ayeka began watching Jared type rapidly at his lap top.
"Hey! Something's wrong with Ashley!" It was Mihoshi, she looked very frantic.
Jared saved his work and shutdown his laptop and stood up, "What's wrong with her?"
Mihoshi grew more frantic, "I don't know!! She's just in pain!!"
He nodded and followed Mihoshi back to Ashley, Ayeka was following her also. They came to Ashley her was rolling on the ground holding her side. Jared quickly grabbed Ashley by her shirt collar, picked her firmly off the ground and gave her a hard slap to the face. He then let Ashley fall to the ground.
"Mr. Azerar! Why on Earth did you do that to her?!" Ayeka yelled.
"She still has bad memories that hit her all at once, and she just spazzes out." Jared explained.
Ashley shook her head rapidly, she stood up very embarrased looking, she quickly ran off before anyone would say how sorry they were for her, she didn't need their sympathy, she didn't need any of them! All she needed was herself!
The blond quickly found a good hiding spot, deep in the forests around the shrine. She quickly shimmied up the nearest tree and took a seat on one of the lower branches. She leaned against the trunk and looked up to see the tree's branches, she didn't care, she was how she liked to be. Alone.
~*~
Mihoshi looked very worried, the tough blond had been gone for over three hours, after seeing what had happened to her before, she couldn't help but worry for Ashley's safe return. Tenchi was already out looking for her, even if he did find her, and she didn't come back with him, he at least could bring word that she was safe.
~*~
Tenchi found himself winding deeper and deeper into the forest. "Where could she be?" He asked himself aloud. "Ashley!" He shouted, when he got no answer, he continued on, it was growing later and later, his worry seemed to get bigger too.
Suddenly, he was pinned to the ground from someone, the person had jumped down onto him.
"Got you now you little mother......" Ashley started to say knife raised about to stab the now very scared Tenchi. She quickly got off him and put away her knife.
Tenchi clambered to his feet, still very shaken by the sudden attack, "Are you okay?" He asked her in a shaky voice.
Ashley nodded, "Never been better." Her stomach began growling, she decided that it was time to go back and eat something.
"Are you sure?" Tenchi inquired.
She nodded.
"Why did you attack me like that?" Tenchi questioned.
"I thought you were Azerar." She said coldly and began to walk to the house.
"I see." He quickly grabbed her arm, causing her to turn around, and give him a death glare that would scare even the toughest person, but, Tenchi just shrugged it off.
"What do you want now?" She snapped.
"Everyone's worried about you, I'm the most worried for you." Tenchi told her softly.
She snorted, "That's a lie!"
"It's not."
Her eyes widened, "You mean it?" She said slowly.
He nodded, "I really mean it."
Silently, tears began to trickle down Ashley's cheek, her normally hard expression, softened.
"I'm sorry." Tenchi quickly apologized.
"What are you sorry for?" She asked, sniffling a bit, wiping away her tears.
"I made you cry." He told her gently.
Ashley suddenly couldn't control herself, she quickly wrapped her arms around him, he was a bit shocked by this, but he eventually returned the hug and gently rubbed her back, hoping to bring her some comfort. They stood there for a while, just holding each other, swaying a bit to calm down the normally tough blond who was now sobbing and crying into Tenchi's shoulder.
"It's okay, no one's going to hurt you, you just have to give them the chance." He whispered into her ear.
She nodded, then let go of Tenchi, and wiped her eyes dry of her tears, "Thanks."
"For what?"
"For coming for me."
"Your welcome."
"I'm going to go in and eat something." She turned on her heels and returned to the house, leaving Tenchi outside.
"She's getting used to us." The hug that the blond had given him had left a warm feeling, he had been accepted by her, it was a step forward, and a rather nice improvement.
~*~
She had quickly scarfed down a bunch of tasty food, and she was nice and full. She began to head up the stairs.
"Ash!"
Ashley turned around to see Jared there, her eyes narrowed, "What do you want?"
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for that battle." He apologized.
The burden of hating him seemed to evaporate as he said those words, she smiled softly at him, something she hadn't done for him in a long time, "I accept your apology, Jared, and I hope things will work out better between us." She grinned and moved more quickly up the stairs, this has to be the best day of her life!
Jared watched her turn the corner, and he started down the stairs.
"I'm glad things are working out for you two." A diplomatic voice spoke.
He looked up to be greeted by Ayeka at the bottom of the stairs.
"Yeah, me too." Jared said as he gazed deeply into her eyes. Slowly, their lips etched toward each other, and at long last, they connected for the first time, her soft lips tasted sweet to him. When the kiss ended, they both held each other for a long time before they decided it was time to go to sleep, and the new couple parted ways to their seperate rooms.
~*~
Ashley stretched, yawned, and toggled down the stairs the next morning, she had had a nice sleep, she actually didn't have a bad dream or anything! She felt well rested and younger, although twenty is pretty young.
She wandered into the kitchen to find Sasami whipping up a rather yummy smelling breakfreast, the tough girl inhaled it deeply and let out a happy sigh.
Sasami looked in her direction, "Well good morning!" She smiled cheerily as she stired a pot.
"Mornin'." Ashley said.
"Did you sleep well last night?" The young girl asked her.
"Yes I did, thank you very much." Ashley replied.
"That's nice to hear." Sasami told her, then returned to her cooking.
Kyle (AN: I know, we haven't heard much from Kyle haven't we?) walked into the kitchen and leaned on the counter, he looked very tired, there were even dark circles around his eyes, he was definately not getting enough sleep, if any at all.
"Where have you been?" Ashley questioned him.
He yawned excessively loud and scratched his head, messing up his already messed up hair, it was sticking up in every direction, "Washu's lab, she's been doing some experiments on me." He responed, after he finished talking, he yawned once again, kind of sounding like an overgrown puppy dog.
Ashley raised an eyebrow at him, "What kind of experiments?"
"Nothing of what your thinking, you sick perverted little monkey." Kyle quickly added in. (AN: Yes, in reality I have been called a sick perverted little monkey, dammit! I lost my goddamn banana dildo!! Just kidding, anywho, on with it!)
She shook her head smiling at little, "Whatever you say man." And she wandered outside. She began to walk up to the shrine, maybe she could get some help from Tenchi's grandpa, she had to get this off her chest, since he was head of the shrine, he could help her, or something.
When she reached the top of the stairs, she spotted Mihoshi sweeping up the shrine grounds, she eagerly waved to the soft blond.
"What brings you up here?" Mihoshi asked the fast approaching Ashley.
"To talk with Tenchi's Grandpa." She responded.
"He's not in, why don't you just talk with me?" Mihoshi offered.
The tough blond hesitated for a minute, then gave in, "Sure why not."
The two took a seat on the shrine steps, Mihoshi set her broom down behind her.
"What's troubling you?" She asked Ashley, a gentle smile was on her face.
"My past." Ashley said softly, she rested her arms on her knees, her head began to droop.
"What about it? Tell me, and I'll help you as best I can." Mihoshi smiled softly at her, trying to make Ashley feel more at ease.
"I was very young when I lost them."
"Lost who?"
"My parents, my sisters, my aunts, uncles, my whole family, gone." Ashley explained, "They were killed by the Germans. See, at the time I was five or six years old, Germany was once again growing power hungry, one of the first country they went after was my country, Ukraine, anyone who defied the Germans were killed on the spot, I cooperated, the rest of my family died, murdered in cold blood by those damn German Soliders!"
Mihoshi's looked at her softly with a comforting look on her face, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, but that's just part of the story."
"May I hear the rest?" Mihoshi asked.
Ashley nodded, "I'll tell. After they were killed, the Germans took me to a training camp, they trained me to shoot to kill without guilt, I was forced to fight in the German army, I was one of the special ones they said, and I was. I outlived most of the soliders who were much older then me, I was around ten when I was put in my first battle. It wasn't pretty, people around me were falling to the ground wounded or dead, some had lost their heads or limbs, there was a lot of blood. During my first fight I was shot through my shoulder, it hurt like hell, but, I was one of the few lucky ones. When I turned fifteen the war was over, and I was free to go, Germany had been subdued once again, and wasn't going to go for power."
"Then what happened?" Mihoshi inquired.
"I had to take care of myself, unfortunately, they hadn't taught me how to read, so, it was difficult."
"Can you read now?"
She paused for a moment, then shook her head, "I can't, I was too busy trying to stay alive after the war, I couldn't go to school to learn to read."
"I'll teach you." Mihoshi told her firmly.
"Really?" Ashley asked.
Mihoshi nodded, "Really, really."
Ashley smiled at her, "Thank you."
"Is that the end of your story?"
The tough blond shook her head, "Not yet."
"Let's hear the rest." Mihoshi said.
"The only reason I was special, was that I could memorize things so fast, I could be told something once and I would remember it, like when I was learning to pilot Beta, I would rely purely on when Kyle and Jared would teach me, that's how I learned the controls. But after living on my own barely making ends meet for a year, I ran and began wandering around on the streets, I had nowhere to go, and nowhere to be. When I was eighteen, I met up with Kyle and Jared, and that's pretty much it. During my first Armored Core fight, Beta was destroyed with me in it, I got a huge cut on my side along with a broken leg and a few broken ribs, and I thinks some burns, I was lucky though." Ashley finished, she then lifted up the left side of her shirt to reveal a long pink scar that ran along her side, after a minute, she pulled her shirt down.
"Why don't we head back for breakfast, it should be done by now." Mihoshi told her, "Then we can get started with your reading lessons."
Ashley smiled, "Let's do that."
Chapter Two Complete.
(1)S'not - it's my own word! it's a cross between it's and not, and it looks like that, i know, I have tooooooo much time on my hands -^.^-
Whoo hoo! This chapter is over! I know, it took a little too long to write, but hey, I'm guessin' write now that not too many people are reading this. *sniff* Thanks to Gensao, the e-mail feature has been added to site, THANK YOU!! But, it's for members only, so, to all you members out there, PLEASE review me, a little note, I don't care, just give me a sign or something!! PLEASE!!! Well, that's all for now, until the next fic, this is Carol saying, Last night I dreamt I ate a ten-pound marshmellow, when I woke up my pillow was gone.
Shinigami Forever!!!
No Need For Hiding
Ashley sat on the steps of the shrine, she was deep in thought, her eyes had that spaced out look again. It was a beautiful day to be outside anyway, the sun was shining, it was about seventy degrees, and the birds were chirping, instead of being annoying like it usually was, Ashley thought it was kind of melodious today. She sat back and looked up at the cystal blue sky and watched clouds drift lazily by, a gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the trees around the shrine.
She took a deep breath and sighed, she had been there for two weeks, things weren't getting any better, the flash backs were becoming worse, it was getting to the point where Tenchi would be sitting in there with her at night, as if he was watching over her. As if he actually cared.
The blond quickly shook those thoughts from her head, 'Why would he care about someone as mean and nasty as me? Why would he bother wasting his time? Why? That will always be the question.' She questioned herself.
"Hey! Whatcha doing way out here by yourself?" A perky female voice, Ashley would recognize that voice anywhere, she looked up at the blue eyed and blond haired girl.
"Just thinking." The green eyed blonde replied, not facing Mihoshi.
Mihoshi sat down next to Ashley, there was a worried look on the blue eyed one's face. "You're worrying everyone." She told Ashley softly.
Ashley shrugged, "Oh well, s'not(1) like anyone cares 'bout me anyway."
"But your wrong there! Everyone cares!" Mihoshi added by jokingly jabbed Ashley in the arm, "I think Tenchi has a crush on you too."
The tough blond purposely swayed from the punch, she then snorted, "He's got other girls that are dying to get with him, why doesn't he like them at all? Why would he come after me instead? I'm just a hard person, I don't mess with that goopy love crap that everyone else around here seems to be fond of."
The perky blond was a bit hurt by the cold voice those words were spoken in, "Why are you like that?"
"What?"
"Why don't you let anyone love you, but then you complain about no one liking you?"
Ashley stared at the bouncy blond, she had no clue as to what to say to her, "I.......I.......I don't know." She was very stunned at the moment, she never really thought about that fact, she had spent so much time pushing people away from her, she never really took the chance to be friends with other people, other then Kyle and Jared.
"You going to be okay?" Mihoshi asked.
The tough blond nodded slowly, not facing Mihoshi still, she was still shocked.
Mihoshi stood and began to walk away, before she did, she faced Ashley once again, "If you ever need anyone to talk to, your always welcome to talk to me, friend." Then she continued away.
Nonaka stared at Mihoshi, 'Friend? What have I done to become her friend?' She rested her head back in her hands, she was still shocked by Mihoshi's words that have etched in her mind, 'Why don't you let anyone love you, but then you complain about no one liking you?'
She tried shaking the thoughts from her head, it was no good.
~*~
Jared sat on the couch, laptop on his lap, his fingers quickly flew over the keys as he continued to type. Someone sat on the couch next to him, but he ignored whoever it was and continued deep into his programming.
"Mr. Azerar, you work too much for a young man." A soft, diplomatic voice spoke.
The blond boy looked up from his mini computer and looked at Ayeka, he shrugged, "If I don't, then, we'll definately lose our fights."
"But, I have seen you and your friends fight, you seem to be getting better all the time, your team is the highest ranking." Ayeka told him.
He nodded, "Yes, but, I want to stay there, Nonaka isn't any good at this stuff, Kyle just doesn't want to do that."
"Have you ever let Miss Nonaka work?" Ayeka asked him.
"No." He shook his head, "We may be in first, but, in a fight, there is very little room for error, Nonaka's Armored Core, Beta, can't take a beating like that."
"I see." Ayeka said, "You don't like her very much do you?"
Jared nodded, then shook his head, "We're friends, just when it comes to Armored Cores, we don't exactly agree. We were in a fight one time, it was a good one either."
"May I hear about it?" Ayeka questioned.
"Sure, it was about two years ago, we had just started out, and it was our first battle as a team............"
~*~Flashback~*~
All three Armored Cores were badly damaged, Beta was barely able to move, while the other team had very little to no damage. A sudden explosion erupted from Beta, Ashley could've been killed in it, but no time to look back. It wasn't long before Iota and Alpha were taken out. Jared and Kyle started scrounging through the very burnt Beta, when they found her, she was near dead, a large scratch across her side was deep and bleeding badly, it formed a scar.
~*~End of Flashback~*~
"She had figured that it was all my fault, so, since then, we haven't gotten along." Jared finished.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Ayeka apologized.
"It's okay, things are starting to get better, she's not fighting me alot like she used to." Jared told her.
"Well, that's nice to hear." Ayeka smiled.
Jared smiled back, he carefully examined her face, it was soft and gentle looking, like that of a lamb, her Jurain (Spelling?) robes did a good job of covering up her body. Jared reached over to her and gently traced his fingers over her cheek, stroking it. Ayeka was very shocked by his sudden touch, but quickly became used to it. The two began leaning toward each other for a kiss, when a sudden shouting instantly got them apart, Jared returned to typing, and Ayeka began watching Jared type rapidly at his lap top.
"Hey! Something's wrong with Ashley!" It was Mihoshi, she looked very frantic.
Jared saved his work and shutdown his laptop and stood up, "What's wrong with her?"
Mihoshi grew more frantic, "I don't know!! She's just in pain!!"
He nodded and followed Mihoshi back to Ashley, Ayeka was following her also. They came to Ashley her was rolling on the ground holding her side. Jared quickly grabbed Ashley by her shirt collar, picked her firmly off the ground and gave her a hard slap to the face. He then let Ashley fall to the ground.
"Mr. Azerar! Why on Earth did you do that to her?!" Ayeka yelled.
"She still has bad memories that hit her all at once, and she just spazzes out." Jared explained.
Ashley shook her head rapidly, she stood up very embarrased looking, she quickly ran off before anyone would say how sorry they were for her, she didn't need their sympathy, she didn't need any of them! All she needed was herself!
The blond quickly found a good hiding spot, deep in the forests around the shrine. She quickly shimmied up the nearest tree and took a seat on one of the lower branches. She leaned against the trunk and looked up to see the tree's branches, she didn't care, she was how she liked to be. Alone.
~*~
Mihoshi looked very worried, the tough blond had been gone for over three hours, after seeing what had happened to her before, she couldn't help but worry for Ashley's safe return. Tenchi was already out looking for her, even if he did find her, and she didn't come back with him, he at least could bring word that she was safe.
~*~
Tenchi found himself winding deeper and deeper into the forest. "Where could she be?" He asked himself aloud. "Ashley!" He shouted, when he got no answer, he continued on, it was growing later and later, his worry seemed to get bigger too.
Suddenly, he was pinned to the ground from someone, the person had jumped down onto him.
"Got you now you little mother......" Ashley started to say knife raised about to stab the now very scared Tenchi. She quickly got off him and put away her knife.
Tenchi clambered to his feet, still very shaken by the sudden attack, "Are you okay?" He asked her in a shaky voice.
Ashley nodded, "Never been better." Her stomach began growling, she decided that it was time to go back and eat something.
"Are you sure?" Tenchi inquired.
She nodded.
"Why did you attack me like that?" Tenchi questioned.
"I thought you were Azerar." She said coldly and began to walk to the house.
"I see." He quickly grabbed her arm, causing her to turn around, and give him a death glare that would scare even the toughest person, but, Tenchi just shrugged it off.
"What do you want now?" She snapped.
"Everyone's worried about you, I'm the most worried for you." Tenchi told her softly.
She snorted, "That's a lie!"
"It's not."
Her eyes widened, "You mean it?" She said slowly.
He nodded, "I really mean it."
Silently, tears began to trickle down Ashley's cheek, her normally hard expression, softened.
"I'm sorry." Tenchi quickly apologized.
"What are you sorry for?" She asked, sniffling a bit, wiping away her tears.
"I made you cry." He told her gently.
Ashley suddenly couldn't control herself, she quickly wrapped her arms around him, he was a bit shocked by this, but he eventually returned the hug and gently rubbed her back, hoping to bring her some comfort. They stood there for a while, just holding each other, swaying a bit to calm down the normally tough blond who was now sobbing and crying into Tenchi's shoulder.
"It's okay, no one's going to hurt you, you just have to give them the chance." He whispered into her ear.
She nodded, then let go of Tenchi, and wiped her eyes dry of her tears, "Thanks."
"For what?"
"For coming for me."
"Your welcome."
"I'm going to go in and eat something." She turned on her heels and returned to the house, leaving Tenchi outside.
"She's getting used to us." The hug that the blond had given him had left a warm feeling, he had been accepted by her, it was a step forward, and a rather nice improvement.
~*~
She had quickly scarfed down a bunch of tasty food, and she was nice and full. She began to head up the stairs.
"Ash!"
Ashley turned around to see Jared there, her eyes narrowed, "What do you want?"
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for that battle." He apologized.
The burden of hating him seemed to evaporate as he said those words, she smiled softly at him, something she hadn't done for him in a long time, "I accept your apology, Jared, and I hope things will work out better between us." She grinned and moved more quickly up the stairs, this has to be the best day of her life!
Jared watched her turn the corner, and he started down the stairs.
"I'm glad things are working out for you two." A diplomatic voice spoke.
He looked up to be greeted by Ayeka at the bottom of the stairs.
"Yeah, me too." Jared said as he gazed deeply into her eyes. Slowly, their lips etched toward each other, and at long last, they connected for the first time, her soft lips tasted sweet to him. When the kiss ended, they both held each other for a long time before they decided it was time to go to sleep, and the new couple parted ways to their seperate rooms.
~*~
Ashley stretched, yawned, and toggled down the stairs the next morning, she had had a nice sleep, she actually didn't have a bad dream or anything! She felt well rested and younger, although twenty is pretty young.
She wandered into the kitchen to find Sasami whipping up a rather yummy smelling breakfreast, the tough girl inhaled it deeply and let out a happy sigh.
Sasami looked in her direction, "Well good morning!" She smiled cheerily as she stired a pot.
"Mornin'." Ashley said.
"Did you sleep well last night?" The young girl asked her.
"Yes I did, thank you very much." Ashley replied.
"That's nice to hear." Sasami told her, then returned to her cooking.
Kyle (AN: I know, we haven't heard much from Kyle haven't we?) walked into the kitchen and leaned on the counter, he looked very tired, there were even dark circles around his eyes, he was definately not getting enough sleep, if any at all.
"Where have you been?" Ashley questioned him.
He yawned excessively loud and scratched his head, messing up his already messed up hair, it was sticking up in every direction, "Washu's lab, she's been doing some experiments on me." He responed, after he finished talking, he yawned once again, kind of sounding like an overgrown puppy dog.
Ashley raised an eyebrow at him, "What kind of experiments?"
"Nothing of what your thinking, you sick perverted little monkey." Kyle quickly added in. (AN: Yes, in reality I have been called a sick perverted little monkey, dammit! I lost my goddamn banana dildo!! Just kidding, anywho, on with it!)
She shook her head smiling at little, "Whatever you say man." And she wandered outside. She began to walk up to the shrine, maybe she could get some help from Tenchi's grandpa, she had to get this off her chest, since he was head of the shrine, he could help her, or something.
When she reached the top of the stairs, she spotted Mihoshi sweeping up the shrine grounds, she eagerly waved to the soft blond.
"What brings you up here?" Mihoshi asked the fast approaching Ashley.
"To talk with Tenchi's Grandpa." She responded.
"He's not in, why don't you just talk with me?" Mihoshi offered.
The tough blond hesitated for a minute, then gave in, "Sure why not."
The two took a seat on the shrine steps, Mihoshi set her broom down behind her.
"What's troubling you?" She asked Ashley, a gentle smile was on her face.
"My past." Ashley said softly, she rested her arms on her knees, her head began to droop.
"What about it? Tell me, and I'll help you as best I can." Mihoshi smiled softly at her, trying to make Ashley feel more at ease.
"I was very young when I lost them."
"Lost who?"
"My parents, my sisters, my aunts, uncles, my whole family, gone." Ashley explained, "They were killed by the Germans. See, at the time I was five or six years old, Germany was once again growing power hungry, one of the first country they went after was my country, Ukraine, anyone who defied the Germans were killed on the spot, I cooperated, the rest of my family died, murdered in cold blood by those damn German Soliders!"
Mihoshi's looked at her softly with a comforting look on her face, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, but that's just part of the story."
"May I hear the rest?" Mihoshi asked.
Ashley nodded, "I'll tell. After they were killed, the Germans took me to a training camp, they trained me to shoot to kill without guilt, I was forced to fight in the German army, I was one of the special ones they said, and I was. I outlived most of the soliders who were much older then me, I was around ten when I was put in my first battle. It wasn't pretty, people around me were falling to the ground wounded or dead, some had lost their heads or limbs, there was a lot of blood. During my first fight I was shot through my shoulder, it hurt like hell, but, I was one of the few lucky ones. When I turned fifteen the war was over, and I was free to go, Germany had been subdued once again, and wasn't going to go for power."
"Then what happened?" Mihoshi inquired.
"I had to take care of myself, unfortunately, they hadn't taught me how to read, so, it was difficult."
"Can you read now?"
She paused for a moment, then shook her head, "I can't, I was too busy trying to stay alive after the war, I couldn't go to school to learn to read."
"I'll teach you." Mihoshi told her firmly.
"Really?" Ashley asked.
Mihoshi nodded, "Really, really."
Ashley smiled at her, "Thank you."
"Is that the end of your story?"
The tough blond shook her head, "Not yet."
"Let's hear the rest." Mihoshi said.
"The only reason I was special, was that I could memorize things so fast, I could be told something once and I would remember it, like when I was learning to pilot Beta, I would rely purely on when Kyle and Jared would teach me, that's how I learned the controls. But after living on my own barely making ends meet for a year, I ran and began wandering around on the streets, I had nowhere to go, and nowhere to be. When I was eighteen, I met up with Kyle and Jared, and that's pretty much it. During my first Armored Core fight, Beta was destroyed with me in it, I got a huge cut on my side along with a broken leg and a few broken ribs, and I thinks some burns, I was lucky though." Ashley finished, she then lifted up the left side of her shirt to reveal a long pink scar that ran along her side, after a minute, she pulled her shirt down.
"Why don't we head back for breakfast, it should be done by now." Mihoshi told her, "Then we can get started with your reading lessons."
Ashley smiled, "Let's do that."
Chapter Two Complete.
(1)S'not - it's my own word! it's a cross between it's and not, and it looks like that, i know, I have tooooooo much time on my hands -^.^-
Whoo hoo! This chapter is over! I know, it took a little too long to write, but hey, I'm guessin' write now that not too many people are reading this. *sniff* Thanks to Gensao, the e-mail feature has been added to site, THANK YOU!! But, it's for members only, so, to all you members out there, PLEASE review me, a little note, I don't care, just give me a sign or something!! PLEASE!!! Well, that's all for now, until the next fic, this is Carol saying, Last night I dreamt I ate a ten-pound marshmellow, when I woke up my pillow was gone.
Shinigami Forever!!!